Most American are familiar with the basic gun crime statistics, at least the most important one: How many Americans die from gunshots each year. In case you don’t know, the number is about 30,000 people. Of these about 8500 are homicide and the rest are suicides. These are shocking gun facts.
Perhaps even more significant is that almost three times that many people are wounded, grievously, by gun shots but don’t die. This is an appalling gun fact. Added to this shock is that Americans cannot get an exact number of gun injuries because the agencies charged will collecting this data are prohibited from doing so regarding gun crime statistics.

Our national health agencies, specifically the National Institute of Health and the Center for Diseae Control have been subjected to regulations that restrict them from collecting facts if those facts will cast gun ownership in a negative light!

Naturally, the prohibition on gun facts inhibits conversations on gun control. How can American have an open sensible gun control debate if gun crime statistics are prohibited from being collected? Gun control is a burning issue in America and yet gun crime statistics are intentionally kept from us.

How did it come to pass that in the United States of America basic data like gun crime statistics are prohibited from being collected? Blame the NRA. The NRA and a few unethical legislators who worked quietly outside of public scrutiny to shield gun manufacturers from having to confront the facts of the harm their products do in our society.

Here are the facts from journalist Anne Landman: “Why? Because the National Rifle Association (NRA) has long worked behind the scenes to block laws allowing the collection and dissemination of data about the impact of gun ownership on Americans’ safety. The NRA quietly pushed a provision that was inserted into the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) restricting the data doctors can collect from their patients about their ownership and use of firearms. From 1986 and 1996, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control conducted peer reviewed research into the impact of the presence of guns in people’s homes. While there is a widespread belief among gun owners that the presence of guns in their homes makes them safer, the CDC found the opposite — that having a gun in the home creates a 2.7 times greater risk of homicide and a 4.8 greater risk of suicide for the occupants. The NRA took action to prevent CDC from publicizing these results, and blocked continued funding of government research into the impact of firearms on citizen safety. An NRA congressional lobbyist got an amendment slipped into an appropriations bill cutting $2.6 million from CDC’s budget (the amount CDC had been spending on firearm research annually) along with a clause that says say “None of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.” What’s more, the federal agency responsible for regulating guns in the U.S. has been without a permanent director for six years…by design. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was split off from the U.S. Treasury Department nine years ago and since then Republican elected leaders, beholden to the gun lobby, have blocked confirmation of a director.”

Americans have the right to all gun crime statistics so that we can make the best gun law!

Another piece of statistics that may have an unsettling effect on you is that a larger
number of children have been victims of homicide in places where a larger number of
households have owned guns. If you have supported uncontrolled gun ownership with
the expectation that it would give protection to your family including children, you will
now realize the irony of the situation.

People who believe that possession of guns by a large number of people may not cause
any danger to the society on the ground that most of the people will have the guns only
for their self-protection may find that gun control facts revealing that guns cause 30,000
deaths per annum in the U.S. shatter their belief.

The problems caused by gun ownership go beyond posing a serious threat to human
lives. They extend into the sphere of Economics as well. Astonishing as the figure may
seem, the economic damages caused by guns are valued at $3.7 billion per year.

Gun control facts stated above are not exhaustive. But even this limited information has
the potential to change your mind on gun control.

If you are a person who is against stricter laws to control the ownership of guns, gun
control facts which I will be presenting here will, in all probability, change your mind.
You might have come across and even dealt with many arguments, both for and against
gun control laws. After all, this is one of the topics that are constantly being debated
almost continuously. People who are against laws seeking to control the possession
and use of guns and other firearms will no doubt have strong reasons to justify their
convictions. But, there are times when we have to look at the facts and reevaluate our
position.

Everyone is concerned at the increasing rate at which homicides occur in several states
and in the country as a whole. Information collected about the homicides reveals a
shocking picture. About 60 percent of the homicides are committed by the use of guns
or other firearms. It is only realistic to expect that any weapon can be used for purposes
for which it was not intended. But won’t you agree that the figure 60 percent is a bit, if
not highly, alarming?

Now, let us look at another picture from the arsenal of gun control facts. Considering
that deaths are being caused by guns in almost all countries of the world, comparative
studies are invariably made. One such study places the United States at a situation
worse than that of South Africa, for the number of deaths per 10,000 citizens.

Gun control facts relating to children are even more alarming. One study reveals
that 39 percent of kids knew where their parents stored their guns. If you can digest
this information, you may begin to understand why the incidents of kids using guns
inappropriately and causing deaths keep increasing by the year. When you realize that
the guns are not safe in our homes, won’t you reexamine your views on gun control
legislation?

Gun Control

Gun control is a huge and growing controversy in American politics, especially after the shootings at Aurora, Newtown and Webster. We have the facts for you on the ongoing gun control debate, gun control news, and informative articles.